Media centre

Monday 27 Sep 2010

RAILWAY TEES UP FOR THE RYDER CUP

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

The railway has been readying its game in a drive to help serve one of the world’s largest golf tournaments. 

Its success will affirm the readiness of Britain’s transport infrastructure in supporting top international events, says Network Rail.

Chris Rayner, western route director, Network Rail said: “The 2010 Ryder Cup is a chance to showcase Wales on the world stage and our railway will play an important role.  More than 45,000 visitors from around the world are expected to make their way into Newport this week and the railway is prepared to support the influx of fans from around the world.   

“The Ryder Cup has brought tremendous economic benefits to Newport and its robust rail link was among the key factors for it to become the preferred host city.  If Britain has ambitions to stage more top-class events, including the economy-boosting football World Cup, we must continue to invest in a railway on which Britain relies."

In a bid to support the Ryder Cup event, there will be no planned disruptive engineering work on the Great Western main line during the event period.  This arrangement has also helped train operating companies provide extra train services for visitors travelling between London and Newport.  The brand new Newport station has also been transformed in time into a modern and welcoming facility.  The station will serve as the transport hub, where visitors can conveniently hop onto a shuttle bus and straight into Celtic Manor.  

 

The value of hosting the event in Wales is estimated to be over £70m.   The Ryder Cup is broadcast into 750 million homes in 100 countries and covered by 2000 journalists around the world.  The value of golf tourism in Wales had increased by £18m since Wales was selected to host the tournament, to £34m in 2009.